President’s Message
With the rush of the holiday season behind us, we now have a new year ahead, full of possibilities, opportunities, and challenges. I appreciate the feeling of renewal that comes with the New Year and the sense of moving back to the top of the calendar with a new chapter to be written. The turn of the calendar provides the opportunity to reflect on what we can do to create positive changes for our families, our community, and ourselves. These changes need not be drastic—and such focused thinking nurtures hope and an awareness of what provides meaning.
It is easy to be cynical about New Year’s resolutions, given how hard it can be to make them stick. And we often find ourselves back in January considering the same resolutions to improve our health, relationships, and the other important aspects of our lives. For many years I eschewed New Year’s resolutions for these reasons, or because I was—I thought—too busy to bother. But I’ve since realized that regardless of our ability to follow through, the process of reflecting on our lives to identify what our resolutions should be is valuable in and of itself. Without such self-evaluation, it becomes all the more difficult to determine whether we are on the right path or whether a course correction is necessary to get us where we want to go. Given the fast pace of life, we need all the opportunities we can muster for such reflection. Therefore, this year I’ll make some resolutions, and I hope you’ll do the same. While I’ll try to stick to them again this year, regardless of whether I succeed, the process will do me good. After all, I’ll never achieve them if I stop trying.
If one of your resolutions involves getting more active in your community, then please consider participating in the Beaumont-Wilshire Neighborhood Association, which depends on neighbors like you volunteering their time to help make our community a better place.
Happy New Year!